Martin Wiles: Who’s Telling Whom?
Repeat them again and again to your children.
Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road,
when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.
~Deuteronomy 6:7 NLT
I listened to the stories for hours.
I don’t know whether I was an abnormal kid or not, but I loved to sit with my grandparents and listen to them tell stories. My granddaddy’s favorite was how he had to quit school when he was in the sixth grade. His father had died from cancer, and someone had to run the family farm. As the oldest boy still living at home, the job fell to him.
My grandmother kept the family connections straight for me. She reminded me of which kids went with which parents, how so-and-so was connected to the family, and what their current situation in life was. Since she was the family matriarch, relatives called her to catch her up on the family news.
But things have changed. All my grandparents have passed on. My daddy and momma didn’t know or share as many of the family stories, so I had no one to ask once my grandparents died. Then my father died and my mother began to have memory issues. She can no longer keep the details straight.
Sharing the stories has now fallen to me, and it makes me feel old, even though I’m only sixty. The trouble is that no one asks to hear the stories. My children are young adults, but only interested in the busyness of their own lives. My brothers are nine and ten years younger than I am, and even they rarely ask to hear the family stories. Many of the family stories, my siblings and children don’t even know. And my grandchildren don’t even know there are stories.
Sharing the stories has now fallen to me… The trouble is that no one asks to hear the stories.
~Martin Wiles
As time passes, my family stories seem to fade from everyone’s memory. God didn’t want that to happen with another important family story. The one that told of the commands He had given His followers. He wanted parents and grandparents to repeat these guidelines…commands…to their children and grandchildren. Otherwise, they would forget, and forgetting would impact their culture and society.
Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
~2 Peter 3:18b NKJV
God hasn’t changed His guidelines. Neither has He changed His expectations of us to share them with my family, friends, and acquaintances. When we do, the world becomes a better place because God’s principles lead to clean living and a pure society—at all levels. People will love more, show more kindness, and treat others with respect. But if we quit telling the story, the opposite will happen.
Make time to share God’s story with others—especially your family—and make the world a better place.
Make time to share God’s story with others—especially your family—and make the world a better place. @linesfromgod #VineWords #Whostellingwhom Click To TweetHeavenly Father, thank You for entrusting me to tell the stories of my family. Most of all, thank You that the greatest story I can share with my family is the salvation message found exclusively in Jesus Christ my Lord. Help me to tell of Him often. Amen.
Copyright 2020: Who’s Telling Whom?: Author Martin Wiles: All Rights Reserved
Meet Our Contributor
MARTIN WILES

Martin Wiles is an author, English teacher, and freelance editor who resides in Greenwood, South Carolina. He is the founder and editor of Love Lines from God. Wiles is the Managing Editor for Christian Devotions, the Senior Editor for Inspire a Fire, and a Proof Editor for Courier Publishing. He has also served as Web Content Editor for Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas.
Wiles has authored A Whisper in the Wood: Quiet Escapes in a Noisy World (Ambassador International), Grits & Grace & God and Grits, Gumbo, and Going to Church (Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas), Morning By Morning, Morning Serenity, and Grace Greater Than Sin (America Star Books) and is a contributing author in Penned from the Heart (Son-Rise Publications), Rise (Chaplain Publishing), and Love Knots: Stories of Faith, Family, and Friendships (VineWords Publishing).
He has served as Regional Correspondent and Sunday school lesson writer for the Baptist Courier and has also written for Lifeway’s Bible Studies for Life curriculum.
He has also been published in Christian Living in the Mature Years, Mature Living, Open Windows, Proclaim, The Secret Place, The Word in Season, Upper Room, Light from the Word, Reach Out Columbia, Mustard Seed Ministries, Journey Christian Newspaper, Common Ground Herald, The Quiet Hour, Power for Living, Halo Magazine, Joyful Living Magazine, Christian Broadcasting Network, Sharing, Today’s Christian Living, These Days, Plum Tree Tavern, Eskimo Pie, The Scarlet Leaf Review, Creation Illustrated, LIVE, Purpose Magazine, Stand Firm, The Banner, Relevant, and Lutheran Digest.
He is a regular contributor to Christian Devotions, PCC Daily Devotions, Theology Mix, Inspire a Fire, The Write Conversation, and Vine Words and is a regular writer for the Dorchester County Eagle Record, the Orangeburg County Times and Democrat, and the Greenwood County Index Journal.
Wiles’ next book, Don’t Just Live…Really Live is under contract with Ambassador International.
CONNECT WITH MARTIN WILES AT:
Managing Editor, Christian Devotions
Senior Editor, Inspire a Fire
Proof Editor, Courier Publishing
Author, A Whisper in the Woods, Grits, Gumbo, and Going to Church and Grits, Grace, and God.
On The Web: Love Lines From God
BOOK LINKS:
Grits, Gumbo, and Going to Church https://www.amazon.com/Grits-Gumbo-Going-Church-Martin/dp/1798510375
Grits & Grace and God https://www.amazon.com/Grits-Grace-God-Heaven-Southern/dp/1645261379
A Whisper in the Woods: Quiet Escapes in a Noisy World https://www.amazon.com/Whisper-Woods-Quiet-Escapes-Noisy/dp/1620208652
I wouldn’t give anything for my family’s stories. I didn’t know it at the time, but they gave me a sense of purpose, and responsiblity. Ultimately, I was a part of something greater than what my eyes could see, but this natural legacy pales in comparison to the spiritual one given us by our heavenly Father. We are a part of something greater than we can comprehend.
So true.
too late!
I grew up hearing the stories of my mother’s family. I loved hearing them, but now our best storyteller is no longer with us. Her memory issues caused her to tell the same stories over and over in the space of just an hour sometimes. I never minded. I loved hearing them, and nobody could tell them like Betty! My father’s family didn’t have as many stories, but I didn’t realize it until it was to late to hear more of them. Thank you for blessing me with this devotion.
Thanks, Evelyn.
Martin this is a great topic. Sharing our family stories and history is important. Thanks for penning this.
Thanks, Diane. Thanks for hosting me.
My pleasure, Martin.
Thank you for sharing! Jesus always used stories as they paint a wonderful picture in our minds!
Thanks, Lee Ann.
All too often our desire to hear the stories comes too late. Thank you for the encouragement to preserve and share both our family stories and our legacy of faith.
Thanks, Julie.
Thanks, Glenda. Stories are powerful.
Thanks, Martin. Storytelling was a big deal in our family, too. Still is. My mother is 98 and still enjoys telling all her stories to me and my daughters. I cherish them and hope to fit them into a book someday where they can live forever.
Thanks, Karen. Have a great day.
Thanks for sharing Martin. I have wonderful memories of shared stories from family members also.